[Interview Part1] Gintama Keeps Evolving: Tomokazu Sugita, Daisuke Sakaguchi and Rie Kugimiya on the Surprise New Film and Why “The Past Is Not an Enemy”

Gintama returns with a completely new film as New Film Gintama Yoshiwara in Flames opens in Japan. Ahead of the release, Tomokazu Sugita who voices Gintoki Sakata, Daisuke Sakaguchi who voices Shinpachi Shimura, and Rie Kugimiya who voices Kagura spoke candidly in this interview about their thoughts on the unexpected full scale new production.

Based on the manga by Hideaki Sorachi which began serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in December 2003, Gintama is set in an alternate Edo ruled by aliens known as Amanto. The science fiction period comedy follows freelancer Gintoki Sakata and the colorful people around him. The original manga concluded in June 2019, with cumulative circulation surpassing 73 million copies. The television anime began airing on TV Tokyo in April 2006, followed by animated feature films and a live action adaptation starring Shun Oguri.

The new film is set in the underground red light district city of Yoshiwara Paradise. Gintoki, Shinpachi and Kagura step into a city ruled by the Night King Housen, where the light has been lost. The celebrated Yoshiwara in Flames arc from the original manga has been newly adapted as a feature length anime. Hideaki Sorachi serves as original creator and Super Advisor Gorilla, with Naoya Ando directing, Yoichi Fujita supervising, and Taku Kishimoto writing the screenplay.

Interview

ーーJust when we thought the story had concluded with Gintama THE FINAL in 2021, here we are in the twentieth anniversary year with a brand new anime film. How do you honestly feel about it now?

Sugita
We talked about it like it was some completely finished ancient manuscript. We made such a big deal about calling it “Final,” and before that memory could even fade, here comes the next one. What is going on? Did space and time warp somehow, or was a new concept born? I still cannot fully accept it. But when I saw the new staff members and actors who joined from this film onward, I felt their determination to create something new from here. As the voice of Gintoki Sakata, I realized I needed to be on set in a way that makes it easy for newcomers to step into Gintama. I did not even have to think about it. My body just moved naturally.

Sakaguchi
I was kind of in a daze too. I was convinced it had ended, so when they said we were doing it again, I did not really understand what they meant. It has been sixteen years since the previous Yoshiwara in Flames arc, so I kept thinking, are we really doing this? Then I got the script and thought, oh, we really are doing it. Shinpachi is talking. I wondered what angle they would take, but after reading it, I realized they truly rebooted it in a new way. I was still hazy about it, but I was excited for the recording.

Kugimiya
I was very surprised at first. I was also very happy to hear that the cast would remain the same. The series itself had completely reached its final episode, so I wondered what it would feel like to turn back time. But thinking that we could create another work together as the Gintama team made me very excited, and I wanted to give it everything I had.

――This arc is considered one of the most intense and iconic episodes in the original manga. What does it mean to you?

Kugimiya
Even when we recorded it for the television anime, it had both outrageous comedy and extreme seriousness throughout. It is packed with everything that makes Gintama special. Personally, the scene where Kagura is pushed to her limit and awakens left a very strong impression on me. It was a very painful scene.

Sakaguchi
It is a very Gintama like story, with a good balance of comedy and seriousness. It deals with Kagura’s family, and Gintoki faces Housen who is one of the strongest enemies he has ever fought. Even though I am part of it, I feel Shinpachi is closer to the audience perspective. Through his eyes, you watch the other two. As a viewer, you would want to stop Kagura after she awakens, and you would want to tell Gin san, let us meet again alive. It was a strange feeling of being Shinpachi and also a third party at the same time.

Sugita
Even when following classic Jump storytelling principles, Gintama does not lose its identity. It is a very memorable arc. This might have been around the time when each character started being explored more deeply. You realize here that Kagura is from the Yato clan, not an Earthling. The reality you do not want to face appears in the worst possible form, as raw power.

Before this arc, her father Umibozu appeared and things ended on a somewhat warm note. But here, you are forcefully reminded that their lives are truly at risk and that they are indeed a warrior race. Shinpachi also has his own character deepening in another episode. By exploring each character more deeply, the story shows how Gintama can become heavy without becoming unbearably heavy, and without becoming something that just bounces off lightly. That balance left a strong impression on me.

――The Shinsengumi and Katsura, who did not appear in the original manga version of this arc, also show up here.

Sugita
That is another clear change, so it does not have to be reproduced exactly the same way. We did not want it to feel like a game recording where you are nervous about the collaboration partner.

Sakaguchi
That is a difficult metaphor. It is kind of hard to follow.

Sugita
Collaboration is…

Sakaguchi
Okay, let us pause for a second.

(All laugh)

Sugita
We are not in a situation where one side is intimidated by the other. On a serious note, I wanted to avoid comparing the present to the past in a way that makes you afraid of your earlier performance. We are not racing to compare specs between our old selves and our current selves. As Breed Kaga once shouted, we are not doing this race to compare performance numbers.

Sakaguchi
Cyber Formula has nothing to do with this.

Sugita
From the beginning, I wanted to keep in mind that the past is not an enemy standing in our way. I did not want the new staff or cast to feel nervous, or to think, it is Gintama, what should we do, this is scary. I was very careful about that.

Sakaguchi
I also did not want to sound overly polished just because time has passed. I did not want to think, I do not need to project my voice that much anymore, or I can do this better now. Even if it was a bit clumsy, I wanted to capture the same level of passion from back then. As long as Shinpachi’s freshness and youthfulness came through, that would be enough. I was not trying to show how skilled I have become.

I would not want people to think, you are at the age where you can call yourself a mid career or veteran actor, so you should do it more skillfully. That is not the point. If I can express Shinpachi’s innocence and vitality, that is enough. I also felt that once I looked at the screen and started speaking, I would naturally become Shinpachi again.

Kugimiya
Ideally, I would have liked to record without checking the old footage. But I carefully reviewed it and prepared thoroughly before the session. It had been sixteen years, so I wondered what would happen. In the end, I chose to treat the past as the past and the present as the present, as completely separate things, and I faced it head on with everything I can do now.

Source : ORICON NEWS